I’m so excited to be joining you today
to talk a little about my new book–the
Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book! If ever a book was aptly named, this would be
it! It is a little different than my
previous project-oriented books in that it is an at-your-fingertips reference
for quilting ideas. I wrote this book to
help you get your creative juices flowing, create dynamic yet achievable
quilting plans, and make each of your projects uniquely your own!

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself
because I actually pitched this book to C&T Publishing not as a book at all
but as an app–an app with video and the ability to cross-link between
families for easy reference and planning.
It wasn’t a standard book idea, so imagine my delight when C&T
said “Yes!” I’m
still pinching myself!

The book is already out and the app should be shipping
soon. Both products begin with the
basics of free-motion quilting both on domestic and longarm machines.

Then we jump into learning my favorite basic quilting designs
that I find myself using over and over again: pebbles, swirls, paisleys, and
loops, to name just a few. But the heart
of the book centers on learning to use these patterns in different types of
blocks…we even work on some types of feathers!

You can look things up by element…or by family...there is even a sample project so you can try out your ideas!

We’ve had a lot of interest from shops that
want to teach from this book, so just to make things really easy, I’ve
written a downloadable sampler pattern with piecing instructions for EVERY
block in the book, and it includes master cutting instructions to cut
everything at once. It will be available
from C&T’s site soon!

The app has animated versions of the basic patterns, videos of me
stitching out designs on the
BERNINA Q 24 and 790, and interactivity and cross-links that make it
a valuable teaching tool. (Special
thanks also to
BERNINA, who partnered in this project!)

By mixing and matching, you can apply these ideas in unlimited
ways!

I really hope you love the
Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book and I can’t
wait to see what you make! If you are on
Instagram, please post using the hashtag #FMQIdeaBook so we can all follow
along!